2023 was a great year for film fans. From the communal celebration of the Birbenheimer to the dozens of acclaimed drama films commemorated this awards season, 2024 has only just begun, but the chain of excellent films already seems to be continuing, with the industry catching up and highly anticipated dramas finally making their debut. And with each reported film starring superstars such as Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lady Gaga, Daisy Ridley, and Regina King, it is clear that this will be a year of epic performances from the ladies. Here are some drama films that should be on your list this year.

Release January 5, 2024

Cast Daniel Levy, Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois, Luke Evans.

In his directorial debut, "Shits Creek," Levy plays Mark, a man one year removed from the night his husband Oliver (Evans) died in a tragic accident. Mark decides to take a soul journey to Paris with his best friends Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), where the harsh truths they must each face are revealed.

Trailer HERE

Released January 19, 2024

Starring Anjanew Ellis-Taylor, John Bernthal, Niecy Nash-Betz, Emily Yancey, Finn Whitlock, Victoria Pedretti, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Esha Carlos Braker, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Connie Nielsen, Blair Underwood, Nick Offerman, and Miles Frost

by Ava DuVernay, fiction film written and directed based on Isabel Wilkerson's 2022 non-fiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent. This moving drama follows Wilkerson as she travels the world to research the thesis that would become "Caste" after suffering a personal tragedy.

Trailer: here

Released January 26, 2024

Starring Daisy Ridley, Dave Melhege, Parvesh Cheena, Marsha DeBonis, Meg Stalter, Brittany O'Grady

On the Oregon coast Fran, a socially awkward office worker in a small town, lives a lonely life. When a new employee shows up in her office and captures her interest, she wonders if she is really cut out for this way of life or if there is something else missing in her life.

Trailer HERE

Released February 2, 2024

Starring Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Samuel Bottomley, Sean Thomas, Enva Lewis, Laura Ambler

Molly Manning Walker's directorial debut, 16-year-old best friends Tara (McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Peek), and Em (Lewis) go on a rite of passage vacation in what should be the best summer of their lives. Meanwhile, Tara (the only virgin among the three) feels the pressure to catch up with her more experienced friends.

Trailer HERE

Released: 2 February 2024

Starring Mats Mikkelsen, Amanda Colin, Simon Bennebjerg.

In this Danish historical drama, Mikkelsen plays a retired army captain who attempts to conquer the inhospitable Danish heath in the name of the king. The only thing standing in his way is a ruthless local ruler (Bennebjerg) who believes the land belongs to him, and the two men are drawn into a ruthless battle for revenge in this 18th century tale.

Trailer: HERE

Released: February 14, 2024

Starring Kingsley Ben-Adil, Lashana Lynch, James Norton

Barbie star (and former Ken) Ben-Adil plays a legendary plays the musician. (Marley's children Ziggy and Cedella and widow Rita Marley served as producers.)

Trailer: here

Released: March 1, 2024

Starring Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano

Six months after a solo mission to the edge of the solar system, astronaut Yakubu (Sandler) returns to Earth with realizes that the wife (Mulligan) he left behind may not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to save his marriage, he is rescued by a mysterious ancient creature (voiced by Dano) hiding at the bottom of the ship.

Trailer HERE

Released March 22, 2024

Starring Regina King, Lance Reddick, Terrence Howard, Lucas Hedges, Michael Shelley, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Andre Holland, Christina Jackson.

King returns to the big screen in John Ridley's biopic about Shirley Chisolm, the first black woman to run for president and the first black congresswoman in the United States. The film focuses on Chisolm's groundbreaking presidential campaign, with exclusive behind-the-scenes details provided by the politician's estate.

Trailer TBD

Release date: April 5, 2024

Cast Anamaria Marinka, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafi, Dzhada Selim

The film follows an unconventional family in North Macedonia in A drama of love. Dita (Marinka), a social worker, did not want to be a mother, but is forced to raise her partner Sauda's (Serban) two daughters, Mia (Selim), a small troublemaker, and Vanesa (Mustafa), a rebellious teenager.

Trailer HERE

Released April 26, 2024

Starring Zendaya, Mike Feist, Josh O'Connor

In this drama directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), Zendaya is a former tennis genius and She plays Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach to her husband Art (Feist). Art is on a losing streak and is forced to play against his childhood best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend (O'Connor), rekindling a tense love triangle.

Trailer HERE

Released May 10, 2024

Starring Marisa Abella, Jack O'Connell, Eddie Marsan, Juliette Cowan, Lesley Manville

Industry star Abella, "Rehab" singer North London, plays Winehouse in this biopic about her early career as a jazz musician and her intense rise to fame throughout the 2000s.

Trailer: HERE

Released: June 21, 2024

Starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy

This crime drama follows the rise and fall of a Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandal MC, over a ten-year period. The saga, told through the eyes of one member's (Butler) long-suffering wife (Comer), embodies the club's inherent free-spiritedness.

Trailer: here

Released: August 9, 2024

Starring Ryan Destiny, Olanike Adeliyi, Brian Tyree Henry

Modeled after real boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, this sports The drama boasts a stellar production team, with Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) writing the script and Rachel Morrison (Black Panther) cinematographer Rachel Morrison directing for the first time. Destiny follows Shields, a Flint, Michigan native who made history at the 2012 London Olympics as the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

Trailer TBD

Released October 4, 2024

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Harry Roarty.

The sequel to Todd Phillippe's gory 2019 film will feature another legendary villain, with Gaga as Harley Quinn. If Gaga alone isn't enough, "Folie à Deux" will also be a musical. This trailer cannot be released soon enough.

Trailer TBD

Release date: December 13, 2024

Starring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio

"The Karate Kid" is the latest childhood classic to be rebooted in the 2020s, with Macchio and Chan each having starred in the 1984 martial arts film and will reprise the roles they played in the 2010 remake. (All other details, including finding the next "Karate Kid," are being worked out.)

Trailer: undated

Release date: December 20, 2024

Cast Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani

Disney's live action version (a.k. A prequel to The Lion King is being produced by Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins. The story of young Mufasa (Pierre) and young Scar (Harrison) is told by Rafiki as he recounts his grandfather's story to Simba and Nala's daughter Kiara. (With color commentary by Timon and Pumbaa, of course.)

Trailer: undated

Release: undated

Cast Emma Stone, Willem Defoe, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, Hunter Schaefer

Yorgos Lanthimos, director of Poor Things, is already filming a sequel to his awards season hit. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but his third collaboration with Emma Stone is already on my must-watch list.

Trailer TBD

Release: TBD

Starring Anne Hathaway, Mikaela Coel, Hunter Schaefer, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown-Findlay, Sian Clifford

A fictional musician (Hathaway) and iconic Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX provided original music for A24's "epic pop melodrama" about the relationship between a fashion designer (Coel). Inject It Into My Veins

Trailer TBD

Release: TBD

Starring John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Michael Potts

In 2021 Following the success of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Netflix and Denzel Washington appear committed to bringing all of August Wilson's Century Cycle plays to the big screen in The Piano Lesson, Washington's son John David and Till star Deadwyler as two siblings who fight over whether to sell or keep their family's prized heirloom, a piano.

Trailer TBD